Research group(s)

Section of Clinical Pharmacokinetics / Pharmacogenetics and Imaging

Research interests

An important research focus is to understand the target tissue pharmacokinetics of ABC and OATP transporter substrates. Imaging processes involving transporters such as absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of a pharmaceutical compound within the human organism is our core expertise. Functional alteration of transporter processes such as up- or down regulation are often observed in various pathophysiological states and may contribute to pharmacoresistancy, drug-drug interactions or vulnerability towards diseases or drug side effects. Thus, the characterization of transporter function and modulation of transporter activity are another focus of our work.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

Positron-emission tomography (PET) and magnete resonance iamging (MRI) are valuable tools to investigate such processes involved in the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of a pharmaceutical compound within the human organism. Based on the microdosing concept only sub pharmacological doses of a radiolabelled compound are used to investigate drug distribution and pharmacokinetics in healthy vlunteers and patients. This study setup eases first in human trials and first application of a novel radiotracer for clinical PET imaging.

Bauer, M. et al., 2018. Effect of Rifampicin on the Distribution of [11C]Erlotinib to the Liver, a Translational PET Study in Humans and in Mice. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 15(10), pp.4589–4598. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.8b00588.